District 113 Prepares For Full-Day In-Person Instruction

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — With Township High School District 113 set to begin offering a full-day, in-person learning option for students at Deerfield and Highland Park high school, administrators provided families with updates on lunch plans, quarantine guidance and coronavirus testing.

Starting Tuesday, students whose families choose the on-campus option are scheduled to return to campus for classes four days a week. Mondays will remain remote to allow for office hours, student groups and test preparation, according to a guidebook for the fourth quarter.

The plan for on-campus instruction was made possible by updated COVID-19 safety guidelines for schools released earlier this month from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education, which halved the minimum social distance required between masked students to 3 feet.

But students still need to maintain 6 feet of social distancing during lunch. Due to space constraints at the school buildings, district officials decided to allow some students to leave campus for lunch period. Free grab-and-go lunches will still be available for all students, and those learning remotely can pick up seven days of lunches on Mondays.

Students who selected to eat lunch on-campus will have assigned seats, all facing the same direction. When students who selected off-campus lunch decide to stay, they will be seated in the cafeteria and, if needed, eat on the bleachers in the gym.

Read more: District 113 COVID-19 Cases Contracted Outside School, Officials Say

Last week, the Lake County Health Department's COVID-19 school activities toolkit was last week. Changes include a reduction from 14 days to 10 days of quarantine for people who have no symptoms after having been identified as a close contact of a confirmed coronavirus case. The full 14-day period still applies to athletic activities.

Those who have been fully vaccinated — or those who tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous 90 days — do not have to quarantine after being exposed to a confirmed case.

An updated weekly coronavirus testing schedule will be released on Monday. Testing is mandatory for any students who come to campus for class or extracurriculars

District 113 provides updates on the results of its coronavirus testing every two weeks. For the 14-day period ending March 21, there were more than 5,800 tests conducted — with zero positive results, according to the district. However, seven Deerfield High School students tested positive for COVID-19 during that period after getting tested outside of the school's program.

Superintendent Bruce Law, Deerfield High School Principal Kathryn Anderson, Highland Park High School Principal Debby Finn and Director of Facilities and Operations Brian Ahmer are scheduled to take part in an online discussion to review details about plans for in-person learning in the fourth quarter and take questions from the public. Registration is required.